


A Closer Look at the Peculiar Pecking Order of Elements

by Allerleirauh



Category: Sapphire and Steel
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Community: Fic Rush, Multi, Trope Subversion/Inversion, elemental tutelage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-28
Updated: 2013-03-28
Packaged: 2017-12-06 18:14:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/738645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Allerleirauh/pseuds/Allerleirauh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A monologue, in which attempts will be made to discover what this strange beast might be that is most accurately being described as an intricate web of interdependencies between our favourite subjects for study: the Elements.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Closer Look at the Peculiar Pecking Order of Elements

‘It’s an inevitability,’ some will say. ‘It’s the natural order of things,’ others will tell you. ‘It’s irrelevant,’ only a minority will answer.

Yet, whomever you ask, no one will deny the fact that there has always existed a peculiar pecking order between those entities that call themselves Elements. (They have been called by that name as long as any one of them can remember, and that is such a long time ago, in fact reaches back towards the dawn of time itself, that asking what has been before is such a ridiculous question no one has ever dared to ask it.)

It is an old and peculiar pecking order, indeed. It is so complex that understanding it and manoeuvring within it is an art form in itself. There are so many factors to be taken into account, and while some of them are static, others are as fluent as they are transitory.

Some of the more cynical Elements (or should we call them the most wise, the most perceptive, perhaps?) might tell you that the whole concept has been invented to give the ‘mob’, as they call their less self-reflexive colleagues, something to do between assignments, something time-consuming and yet utterly unimportant to keep them occupied.

If you truly want to understand the intricacies of this hierarchy there are generally speaking two methods you can apply. Choosing the deductive logic you can try to work your way from the common to the specific. This is the method that many consider the most feasible and the most elegant. It’s no wonder it has been tried so often in the past, but be warned — the results such studies have produced so far can best be described as imaginative, creative, highly entertaining and downright wrong.

The more hands-down approach is the inductive. Don’t risk getting lost by trying to understand the whole picture at once, but start small; yes, start with the specific. Later, when you feel comfortable with your results, cautiously work your way upwards until you arrive at a more general understanding.

Of course, such abstract advice is difficult to adhere to you might say. Very well, why don’t we start by looking at one or more particular Elements? We shall endeavour to move from the specific to the general. There are some Elements that are practically ideal for explaining the hierarchical dynamics we attain to elucidate here, but which one of them would be the most suitable? Oh, yes, let us take a look at one of our most esteemed trios, shall we?

Sapphire, Steel, and Silver — two operators and one technician — let us take these three into focus. They’ve been amazingly successful for some time now, a sure sign that they work well together, an even stronger hint that their group dynamics are functioning well. It makes them the perfect object of our study.

Why, you ask? Haven’t you listened? If so, it should be perfectly clear that once you’ve mastered to understand how this group functions, you should be able to get a first glimpse of understanding at least on how the whole continuum of Elements functions.

***

Let us start by making our first cursory observation. For the purpose of our study it will suffice. Watching them, we see that it is often Steel who takes the lead on assignments, with Sapphire following and Silver often residing at the fringes. That observation is quite easy to make and might tempt us into arriving at the conclusion that our objective is already accomplished, the hierarchy between them discovered. Steel, Sapphire, and Silver, Alpha, Beta, and Omega — the riddle is solved, the question is answered, isn’t it? Yet, nothing would be farther from the truth. No, we need to look much closer to see it all.

Observing a certain behaviour and labelling it and its participants can be nothing more than the very first, tentative step. The real art form is understanding what rules both actions and actors alike.

Before we look more closely, however, let us agree on one truth right now that should be indisputable: Elements aren’t chickens! It’s the first rule you should embrace. It won’t be the last.

***

It might be best to start with the simplest facts. It should be those that will best explain what we’ve observed the best. Let us take a look at what these three _are_ and what lies beneath everything else. Let us look at their origins, shall we?

Here we have three Elements, correct? Well, no, we haven’t. We _call_ them Elements, (as they do themselves,) but it’s obvious that they are not, not all of them at least. As usual, Silver is the easiest – and no, you don’t have to understand that quip, but if you do, there shouldn’t be any need to explain it. By his namesake he is a true Element, the only true one of the three. Sapphire on the other hand is nothing more but a compound, her namesake being a mineral, the crystallized form of an oxide, a sparkling but somewhat murky origin one might say. Steel is even worse, being nothing more than an alloy, an amalgamation of several elements that is wholly artificial in its nature.

You might think now that looking at their origins should make it quite easy to determine the underlying hierarchy of the dynamic between them. Silver as the only true Element should be at the top. He should be the first, while Sapphire appears to be a classic second, and last of all we have Steel, the underdog.

Yet, as we know, if we put our sole focus on these Elements’ origins our findings don’t fit with our initial observation. Something’s amiss here, but what? It is an easy mistake, really, a beginner’s mistake, but a mistake nonetheless. Only reducing them to their chemistry is as foolish as trying to reduce lesser beings to their biology, which is a folly far too often committed and equally often with tragic results. Granted their origins influence their standing, but there has to be more.

***

Having discarded simple chemistry as the ruling factor, what other avenues are open to us that might be worthy to follow in our investigation? Maybe it’s physics that holds the clue? Let us see what indicators we can come up with. How about age or durability?

Let us start with age, shall we? It should be an easy indicator, but once you look into it, you will soon realise the trap. What relevance is there to age, when you’re talking about an Element? Is it even possible to assign a certain age to each of them? Does it really matter how soon or late after the formation of this universe a certain Element was ‘born’? It seems a childish way to look for a clue here. It might not be irrelevant, but it certainly isn’t the key.

Yet, before we give up on age completely there is a related topic that might work better: resilience and hardness. Yes, we’re moving into the realm of durability now. Once again, it seems easy to establish a ranking. Sapphire is by far the most durable and resilient, beating both Steel and Silver by a wide margin. If you would go so far as to set the three against one another, the latter two would undoubtedly crash themselves to pieces against her.

So, does _this_ finding help us? Is durability the touchstone for explaining the hierarchical dynamics we observe so easily? Well, clearly it isn’t either. Otherwise we should expect an unyielding Sapphire to lead her colleagues with flinty precision, but nothing is further from the truth.

***

Maybe it is time to take a short break here, and see what we have gathered so far. Our goal is to understand what we’ve called that peculiar pecking order between Elements. We have made an observation based on their behaviour that seems to indicate a certain hierarchy between three of these Elements. We have then proceeded to find clues to the reasons of that apparent behaviour and inherent order by looking at a few basic principles rooted in chemistry and physics. While being both elucidating and entertaining in its own way that approach hasn’t brought us significantly closer to an understanding.

Maybe there are other factors in play? Maybe there are factors that are far more difficult to grasp, because they lie in the realm of concepts and ideas? Now, this is treacherous ground, prone to lead to mistakes and misinterpretations. Yet, if we ever want to understand our object of study, we can’t be faint of heart. We will strive on and see what else there is to discover.

***

Let us take another look at these three — Steel, Sapphire, and Silver. What might be other and more illuminating approaches? Maybe gender is the clue? Maybe sex is? Or how about looking at their individual abilities? Possibly it’s the matter of accumulated experience that will bring us the breakthrough?

To the uninformed initiate sex and gender might seem irrelevant and to cut straight to the point, they are on many levels, at least they are for Elements. Yet we must not forget how often it is necessary for an Element to assume human form (or any other that is biological and corporeal).

Being on assignment necessitates it and it brings with it certain limitations and influences, both on a purely physical, but also on a social level. Our trio doesn’t work in a vacuum. To achieve their goals they have to adhere to standards and expectations that are imposed on them by their surroundings and the beings they encounter.

Generally speaking all three of them are well-adapted to deal with the special challenges this role-playing places on them. Naturally their successes in that field vary, but this really isn’t the place to delve into Steel’s occasional fits of stubbornness when dealing with Humans.

The conclusion we have to draw regarding these two factors — sex and gender — is that they don’t play a significant role per se. They are far too limited to the human form, to identify them as relevant between assignments. Just like everything else we’ve considered so far, they might play a part, but in itself neither of them explains it all.

That of course brings us to the last two angles of approach we will be endeavouring here. We will consider our Elements’ unique abilities as well as the experience they’ve accumulated over the countless years of their existence.

If you look at their abilities, one distinction becomes immediately apparent. Two of them are designated as operators while one of them is a technician. Their abilities differ, no two of them are alike. Can we set up a ranking? Is it possible to say that one is more important or more useful than the others and therefore assumes the lead?

Certainly such an approach would be helpful. How about Sapphire’s ability to gather information about everything and everyone? What about Silver’s knack to create illusions or his talent for duplication and duplicity? Are they superior to Steel’s powers to contain and to kill? What defines the usefulness of an Element’s ability and how could a certain ability define one’s Element’s rank in relation to its colleagues?

Suffice to say it can, if only up to a point. The key is its application to a particular situation and task. Of course, therein also lies the catch: an ability might be highly useful in one kind of situation while it holds no discernible value in another. Therefore trying to base the hierarchy of Elements solely on their abilities is bound to fail just like any other attempt we’ve made so far.

That leaves us with only one last approach and that is a rather complex one: experience. In comparison to most of the before mentioned factors experience is the most difficult one — difficult both to discern and also difficult to judge.

Looking at all three of them, and at all the assignments they’ve weathered together, it’s easy to call them old hands in dealing with time and its irregularities. Yet, it’s another matter entirely if you want to weigh their knowledge in contrast to each other. There we start treading on treacherous ground, because evaluating experience is such a complicated issue, one better takes every available precaution before venturing into that field of analysis.

Does that help us in understanding our initial observation? Well, not really, but at least it should be safe to say that experience is a factor that needs to be taken into account. It certainly isn’t the only one, but it’s unquestionably not the least important.

***

Now, my dear Emerald, do you see what a fascinating subject we have broached here? Oh yes, the sparkle shining in your eyes gives you away. You’re riveted, aren’t you? Oh hush, my dear, there’s no reason to feel embarrassed for your eagerness to understand and to learn. It is as it should be. You are new to this existence. It means that for you it will be even more fascinating to discover all the factors determining this most peculiar pecking order, as we have called it in the beginning, because it is one thing that we haven’t mentioned so far. It is a game, the great game, and while you are learning to understand its rules you will also be playing it. Master it well, and one day you might even become one of the major players.

Yet, for now you shouldn’t be disappointed at not finding any easy answers. If anything, there is one thing that should have become clear to you: if you want to understand Elements, if you want to understand what gives them their identity and what governs their interactions, the road to understanding is a long and winding one.

Now run along, my dear. Ruby is already waiting for you. She will take you under her wings and she will show you around and teach you the essentials. Trust her and learn from her example. We are confident she’s going to take good care of you.


End file.
